Exchange Server performance and troubleshooting analysis tools (1)

Even if there are no thousands of methods, there will be hundreds of methods to improve the performance of the Exchange Server. The technologies they use include using Performance Monitor to optimize the location of databases and transfer logs, as well as finding and removing Windows bottlenecks.

You can also use a stress testing tool (such as LoadSim) to place a simulated workload on a new server, optimize the running mode based on your findings.

If you are using a brand new server, these technologies are great. However, it is much more difficult to completely solve performance problems on a finished server, because you cannot randomly turn a server offline and try different optimization technologies on this server. In addition, although the performance monitor usually does not consume all system resources, running the Performance Monitor in a system that lacks system resources can cause a significant impact on the system.

Fortunately, Microsoft has developed a new Tool called the Exchange Server Performance and Troubleshooting Tool (PTA ), this tool can help you solve these problems.

PTA works to diagnose the causes of Exchange server performance problems. Similar to Performance Monitor, PTA needs to occupy some system resources, which causes the performance of servers that lack system resources to decline further. However, we must remember that the PTA tool is designed to use the least effort to find the root cause of the problem, however, tools like Performance Monitor require you to guess what is wrong and run subsequent tests to check whether your operations are correct.

Use Exchange Server performance and troubleshooting analysis tools

1. download the application. This is a 3731KB MSI file.

2. After the download, double-click the MSI file to load the installation wizard. The Installation Wizard is very simple. It simply asks you whether to accept the terminal User License Agreement and asks you to confirm the installation path. After the installation is complete, the PTA tool will be added to the Start Menu of your server, that is, in the Start Menu-> All Programs-> Microsoft Exchange menu.

3. Load the tool and check for updates or configuration files.

4. After the update process is complete, click "Next" to go beyond the welcome page of the wizard.

5. Now, the interface you see will require you to select the type of the problem you encountered. Surprisingly, there are only two types to choose from on this interface: the RPC operation size value and users' complaints about slow response time. Here you need to make your choice and then click "Next ".

6. Now you will be prompted to enter the name of the Server you want to analyze and the name of your Server in the Global database Directory Server. You can also select to enter a backup certificate set so that you can still use your account to log on to the host without permission. After you enter the required information, PTA runs the quick check function to ensure that it can communicate with the Microsoft Exchange dialog box and the global database Directory Server.

7. Now you will see a summary interface, which will tell you how many databases and confidence boxes exist on the server. This screen also explains which performance tests will run on the server. Click "Next" to start the analysis process.

Evaluation Result

How good is this tool? This is hard to say. When I started writing this article, PTA tools were only available for a short period of time. I run this tool on the tested server. In fact, this server does not have performance degradation issues, but it still limits system resources.

Microsoft always recommends that you store the Exchange Server database in a high-performance redundant disk array (RAID) sequence, and store transfer logs on another independent physical disk.

Because I use this special Server for testing to write something about the Exchange Server, not to store a mailbox on this Server, so I have never worried about the disk resources of the server. In fact, this server only has a single hard drive. As I said, at this time, the server does not suffer from performance degradation, but the disk configuration of the server is indeed a significant dangerous signal of the PTA tool.

When I run this tool on my server, it prompts that I have not found any relevant RPC performance problems. I must admit that I was a little surprised at this result, but what surprised me more is what I said on the following interface. If you see Figure A, you can see that the PTA tool points out that it will continue to check other types of performance problems on my server.